Arpeggio: Difference between revisions
(→Games whose music has plenty of arpeggios: Famitracker Wiki; we can file Silver Surfer under F for Follin) |
(Speculation on why low pitched arps turn to mud. FT also uses arpeggio without a loop.) |
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Japanese developers, on the other hand, tended to shy away from arpeggio. | Japanese developers, on the other hand, tended to shy away from arpeggio. | ||
Arpeggio tends to sound muddy when notes are below middle C, and some listeners | Arpeggio tends to sound muddy when notes are below middle C, especially for an arpeggio updated at the full 50 or 60 Hz rate of the vertical blanking [[NMI]]. | ||
When the difference between frequencies of successive pitches is less than the update frequency, there is less than one cycle of phase difference, and the ear doesn't have a chance to positively identify each frequency. | |||
In addition, some listeners find arpeggio grating when played with a volume envelope that has no decay. | |||
"Non-looped arpeggio" is a term used in NerdTracker II for playing the beginning of a note at a different pitch from the rest. | "Non-looped arpeggio" is a term used in NerdTracker II and FamiTracker for playing the beginning of a note at a different pitch from the rest. | ||
Numerous games play the first frame an octave up or down to add an attack to a triangle channel bass or a "plink" to melodic tracks. | |||
== Games whose music has plenty of arpeggios == | == Games whose music has plenty of arpeggios == | ||
Revision as of 02:57, 16 August 2013
In chip music, an arpeggio is an effect that rapidly alternates a tone generator's period among two to four pitches to create a warbly approximation of a chord. The effect was highly popular on Commodore 64, and it was popular on the NES among European developers who started in the C64 scene. Japanese developers, on the other hand, tended to shy away from arpeggio.
Arpeggio tends to sound muddy when notes are below middle C, especially for an arpeggio updated at the full 50 or 60 Hz rate of the vertical blanking NMI. When the difference between frequencies of successive pitches is less than the update frequency, there is less than one cycle of phase difference, and the ear doesn't have a chance to positively identify each frequency. In addition, some listeners find arpeggio grating when played with a volume envelope that has no decay.
"Non-looped arpeggio" is a term used in NerdTracker II and FamiTracker for playing the beginning of a note at a different pitch from the rest. Numerous games play the first frame an octave up or down to add an attack to a triangle channel bass or a "plink" to melodic tracks.
Games whose music has plenty of arpeggios
- Asterix
- Anything by Tim Follin
- Pictionary
- Silver Surfer
- Solstice
- Jurassic Park
- M.C. Kids
- The Smurfs
- Several games by Codemasters
External links
- Effect 0xy (Arpeggio) on Famitracker Wiki
